Of Rings and Things
by everyoneisMISunderstood
Summary: "Here," He said slowly, tugging something off his finger and placing it in my outstretched hand. He closed my fist gently and my heart raced. When I asked what it was for, he shrugged and replied quietly, "You can wear mine until yours gets fixed." Eclare


**(A/N) I love this couple so much, I think it should be illegal. No, seriously. Something I noticed due to my obsession, when he was giving Sav the tickets for the concert, did anyone notice that he seemed to be with Clare? When he walked over to the table, he was holding something that looked suspiciously like an assignment… an English assignment! And I know, if I'm noticing this, I should probably get a life. Oh well :P**

**Anyway, did anyone notice how when Clare was IMing Eli, she was wearing a skull ring instead of one with "true love waits"? I thought that was a bit odd, so I wrote this!**

I still couldn't believe I'd actually ditched school. This was a complete first for me, and I frowned, hoping I wouldn't make a habit out of it. Sneaking a glance over at Eli, I couldn't help but wonder if this would become a frequent thing in my life. We'd been absent from the school for maybe an hour and a half, and while at first we were both equally uncomfortable, we'd eased into conversation.

He was a strange person to say the least, and not in the way most people would think. Judging by his outward appearance, you'd immediately think he was hostile and rude, but he was actually (while very sarcastic and equipped to get under my skin) pretty deep once you bothered digging past the dark exterior. But he could also speak with such casualness, that, even though he was an outcast, you'd assume he was a people person.

I hadn't felt so comfortable with a guy since KC. But I felt even more comfortable with Eli because for some reason, he seemed to get me. When he'd look at me, it was like he wasn't staring at me, but at what I was thinking. Almost like he could read my mind and feel my emotions, but more so than just a normal type of empathy. It was a weird feelingsensation, but I truthfully kind of liked that the two of us just sort of… clicked.

Even if he was _really_ annoying.

"Alright, so tell me, got any siblings?" He asked, quirking up a single eyebrow. We were in the middle The Questions Game, both of us figuring that we were going to be spending more time together anyway, so we might as well get to know each other.

I didn't really want to answer that particular question, and he seemed to sense this. He smiled jokingly and teased, "What, do you have an older brother that's some crazy serial killer? Someone I should watch out for?"

I rolled my eyes at his playful tone and shook my head. "No, but…" I bit my lip and sighed. The amusement was gone out of his gaze, and he opened his mouth, probably to inform me that I didn't have to tell him if I didn't want to. But looking into his bright, attentive green eyes, I wanted nothing more than to start pouring my heart out to him. "Well, I have a sister. You might have heard her name." I paused, half-hoping he'd interrupt me. But he didn't so I whispered, "Darcy."

His brow furrowed and a look of recognition sparked in his eyes. "Darcy Edwards? The name sounds familiar." And judging by the look on his face, he heard all about her in the halls of Degrassi. He probably couldn't imagine where I'd be related to her, what with the light everyone cast her in.

Immediately, I felt the urge to jump to my sister's defense. It was always like that. I told people about Darcy and they always started saying awful things about her, or they'd look at me like they were worried I'd turn out just like her. "She's not that bad. I'm sure you've heard the rumors, about how she was—" I faltered a bit. I gulped and muttered, "About how she was raped. And the side effects. But she's changing again."

She was still in Kenya, and I missed her a lot. Back when we were both younger, she'd giggle and tell me that if I ever needed any guy advice, I could always go to her (even though she hadn't even had a real boyfriend yet) and now I was seriously wishing I could take her up on that offer because I wasn't sure if my attraction to my English partner was normal or not.

A thoughtful expression crossed Eli's face as he observed, "It must have killed her, if she was anything like you." His gaze flickered down to my left hand, and I was certain he was staring at the ring on one of my fingers.

I couldn't look at him anymore. I glanced away, focusing on my shoes even though they weren't particularly interesting, just black ballet flats. I took a sip of my coffee that I'd gotten from The Dot, knowing that if I tried to talk my voice would probably be shaky. "I guess." I looked back at him, only to see him looking at me intensely again.

"Can I see it?" He asked, a tad of curiosity blazing in his stare.

I blinked in confusion. "See what?"

Instead of answering, he just grabbed my hand and pulled it closer to his face. He ran his thumb along the top of my fingers, and I knew I should probably ask what he was doing and pull away, but then his hand came to the band on my ring finger. He twisted the ring around, and read, "True love waits." He smirked. "Good luck with that."

Instantly, I could feel an anger start to smolder inside of me. I scowled deeply. "What, you don't think I'll be able to find a guy out there that loves me enough to wait?"

The look on his face contradicted my thoughts as he murmured, "That's not what I said." Quickly though, his tone turned casual again as he declared, "Guys are just animals."

"Probably part of why KC dumped me," I muttered under my breath. It didn't matter though, because sex was the one thing I wasn't willing to give in a relationship.

To me, keeping my virginity wasn't just a principle. It was a part of who I am, embedded into my DNA. I knew that it would be hard, but I had to keep my promise to myself and to God because I would never forgive myself if I gave myself away before marriage.

Eli didn't say anything, though I was pretty sure he'd heard me. "It's cracked," he observed, hand still enveloping mine in warmth as he fingered the piece of jewelry.

"Yeah, it's not my ring. Well, it wasn't mine first," I said to him, and something told me I should just drop the subject. He probably didn't care about my purity, because obviously, Eli wasn't… well, pure. Then again, he had seemed rather interested when he grabbed her hand that way...

"Your sister's?" He guessed. I nodded in response. "Kind of ironic that it's cracked."

The implications in the statement were bold, something that I was sure my parents were aware of when Darcy gave me her ring. I almost wanted to smack him for raising his eyebrows that way, but something in me knew he was right. "After… you know, _it_ happened, she stopped taking care of it. I think she might have even damaged it on purpose. When she gave it to me, she told me that even if she couldn't fix her mistakes, maybe I could learn from them."

He rolled his eyes. "What, so she's shoving off her problems on you?"

"No!" I exclaimed, shock welling up inside me. Darcy would never do that, not to me. She wanted me to be happy, and she knew abstinence was important to me, so she gave me her ring. I tugged my hand out of Eli's grasp, and he let go, not seeming the slightest bit reluctant which disappointed me more than it should've.

The band_ was_ cracked pretty badly. It was something I'd usually forgotten about, but right then, it seemed much worse. "I could get it fixed." The words were out of my mouth, but I wished I could take them back.

I'd thought about it before, but I understood what Darcy meant when she passed on her ring to me. She wanted me to see the jagged break in the silver metal and remember exactly what she'd gone through, warning me to be careful. It was her way of caring about me. If I did get it fixed, would my sister be angry?

But I had every right to get the ring fixed. My virginity was still in tact, it was still whole, no cracks in it. It was _my_ ring, representing _my_ abstinence. "Yeah," he replied quietly, bobbing his head to reinforce the words.

"Maybe… maybe I will."

The defect on the ring represented more than just unwholesomeness, both Darcy and I knew that. It represented the way she viewed herself, immoral and hideously scarred unable to love again, destined to be filled with hatred.

But there I was, sitting with someone that made my pulse quicken, someone that made me _think_. The emotion I felt for Eli wasn't just on the surface, it was a part of me.

Was it love?

I couldn't be sure, but it felt wrong to be wielding something so ruined when I'd never felt more whole.

I hadn't noticed, but he was staring at me, and I was staring at him. I blushed and looked away, praying that he really couldn't read my mind.

His lips twitched into another sarcastic smile as he breached the silence. "I'm surprised you're willing to go even a few days without wearing something on that finger."

I shrugged, acknowledging his point. My parents wouldn't be too crazy about the idea of my ring missing off my finger, and I had a feeling Ali would give me grief about exactly why my band was absent. Especially when she found out who I'd spent the day with. "I mean, I don't want to but… I still think I should get it fixed."

It was a huge part of me, it was what made me Saint Clare. I earned that playful nickname as a result of my alleged pure thinking, and I was somewhat proud of that. On the other hand though, I couldn't help but remember the shock on Eli's face when I actually ditched school with him.

Like I wasn't capable of having fun or doing anything risky. Like I wasn't capable of letting loose. Like I wasn't capable of _really_ living.

But that was one thing I had in common with him, and probably the only thing: I liked to be different. And we were both not your typical teenager, though in very different ways that seemed to compliment each other perfectly.

Suddenly, he was serious again. "Here," He said slowly, tugging something off his finger and placing it in my outstretched hand. He closed my fist gently and my heart raced. When I asked what it was for, he shrugged and replied quietly, "You can wear mine until yours gets fixed."

The intensity in his stare was startling, almost frightening, and for a brief moment, I wondered if maybe there was some other reason he wanted to get his ring on my finger. I flushed, but I still started to remove my ring from my finger to replace it with his.

Surprisingly, it fit nicely. It was a bit big, but it would do. I smiled shyly. "Thanks."

He nodded in acknowledgment. "Can't have a bunch of guys tripping over themselves when they see Saint Clare might not be so holy and pure after all," He sang, another one of those alluring and irritating smirks on his face.

I reached over and smacked him. "I don't exactly have guys lining up at my door, so I don't think I'd have to worry about that very much." He shrugged, and I could tell he didn't fully agree with me.

We sat there in another awkward silence until finally I cleared my throat and said, "We should probably start working. On our assignments."

We'd originally ditched school so I could get my work done on time and hand in something that would get me a desirable grade, but I'd gotten sidetracked, which wasn't like me. I tried to blame it on Eli, that he was a huge distraction, but I guess part of me _wanted_ to be distracted by him and solve the mystery surrounding him.

His eyes widened as if to say "you're joking right?" as I pulled the papers out of my bag. Taking another sip of my coffee, he looked over my work in silence until finally he drawled, "Wow. This is a first. Skipping school to do _work._"

He shot me a look of disbelief and amusement, and I protested, "Okay, I don't understand how you got an A and I got a C."

So then my ring was forgotten as we sat there, talking about exactly how to improve my grade. But every now and then, he'd look at me a certain way and I'd glance down at the ring resting on my finger, and I wondered in the back of my mind if he even wanted it back.

**(A/N) Okay! Not sure how in character they are, but I really did try… Reviews are muchly loved :)**

**Also, this is a oneshot and will remain a oneshot!  
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